Are you stressed or unhappy? Do you need to calm down? Training your mind to relax can help you feel rested and prepared at any time, and is easy to do. When you find methods that works for you, cultivate and practice them often. In time, you'll be able to relax more quickly and easily using some of the following ideas.1- Do deep breathing exercises:

Although the idea may seem cliche, deep breathing exercises work wonders on relaxing your mind. Practice these daily and in times of stress to help soothe your anxiety.

Close your mouth and take a deep breath in through your nose. Try to time this inhalation so that it lasts for four seconds. Hold your breath for seven seconds, and then exhale your breath for a count of eight seconds. Repeat this four times total.

If you have trouble slowing your breathing this far, start at a faster pace and slowly work your way up to a longer time.

Feel free to adjust the time each inhale and exhale lasts, but be sure that your exhale lasts for twice as long as your inhale. Pause between each breath.

2- Practice meditation, or try rejoicing, meditative prayer:

This is the process of clearing your mind by focusing on a specific thought, place, word(s), color or object. To meditate, sit (kneel or lie) in a comfortable position and think (or pray) about one specific thing. It may take upwards of ten minutes in order to completely clear your mind, but that is normal.

You can sit or lie down during meditation, but always keep your eyes closed to help you focus mentally/spiritually.

It is normal for restless thoughts to intrude on your meditation. Try to ignore them as best as possible, purposely focusing on (cherishing/praising) one specific thing.

Use guided imagery to help clear your mind. Imagine a place, real or fictitious, in which you feel at peace and stress-free. Focus on being in this place, including the details of what it looks like and how you feel in it.

Meditate for as long as you like, but resting for at least ten minutes once you have managed to clear your mind proves to be beneficial to overall stress-level and focus.

Playing calming music, sounds or positive song phrase (such as: "I just feel like something good is about to happen. I just feel like something good is on its way..." can help you to focus better for your meditation. Always do whatever is necessary for you to feel your most comfortable.

Meditation has proven to have health benefits in addition to causing mental relaxation, including lowering blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar.

3- Try visualization:

This is similar to guided imagery in meditation, in which you imagine a peaceful scene. Picture the scene in your head for as long as you would like, but focus all your thoughts and energy on visualizing this place in your mind.

4- Do progressive muscle relaxation:

This is a process by which you tense and then relax all the muscles in your body. Relaxing your muscles after having them tensed alters your mental state, and helps your mind to be as equally soothed as your body.

Start by tensing the muscles in your face one at a time. These might include frowning, knitting your brows, scrunching your forehead, and setting your jaw. Then, allow each muscle to relax.

When you finish with your face, move down your body until you have done this with all your muscles.

Hold the tense muscles for 5-10 seconds each before releasing in order to get the most relaxation from the process.

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